


how'd we get in this position

by chatsdelune (greymooses)



Series: 30 days of svt [24]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 30 Days of Writing, Alternate Universe - Office, M/M, Post-it Notes, Secret Admirer, Yoon Jeonghan-centric, jeonghan is an idiot, overcomplicated attempts to get a date, this is not how you should solve your secret admirer problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27492346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greymooses/pseuds/chatsdelune
Summary: "i came back from lunch and found this on my desk," jeonghan explains, leaning forward to stick a pink post-it note on the wood. a cartoon-ish cat head in the corner takes up most of the paper, but there's a speech bubble drawn above it with "have a nice afternoon!" scribbled inside.seungcheol glances over at it. "okay, and?""this is the third one i've gotten. i have to figure out who it is."(or: someone is leaving post-its on jeonghan's desk, and jeonghan arguably has too much time on his hands.)
Relationships: Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Yoon Jeonghan
Series: 30 days of svt [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949296
Comments: 12
Kudos: 134





	how'd we get in this position

**Author's Note:**

> whyyyyyyyy do i keep writing jeonghan he's so hard for me to deal with. this was going to be seokgyu but then the jun/jeonghan huya stream happened and they [were](https://twitter.com/menjunfei/status/1323609962543603712) [ridiculous](https://twitter.com/tinkswonu/status/1323606152656027649) and jeonghan posted [this](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/54/ec/be/54ecbe7d62768607b920d4a6b5b8a589.jpg) in weverse and fml.
> 
> hasn't been read back at all, so i hope i didn't fuck anything up too bad, but anyway. i usually write better than this i swear.
> 
> prompt: someone keeps leaving cute notes on my office desk and i swear to god i will hunt you down and hug you so hard

jeonghan walks into seungcheol's office, sits in the chair across from him, and kicks his feet up on his desk.

seungcheol doesn't acknowledge him.

he expected that.

"so you know how i don't love cats."

"i'm on a deadline, jeonghan," he warns.

"same. so you know how i don't love cats."

seungcheol sighs. "i do now."

"i came back from lunch and found this on my desk," jeonghan explains, leaning forward to stick a pink post-it note on the wood.

a cartoon-ish cat head in the corner takes up most of the paper, but there's a speech bubble drawn above it with "have a nice afternoon!" scribbled inside.

seungcheol glances over at it. "okay, and?"

"this is the third one i've gotten. i have to figure out who it is."

"because you don't love cats?"

"exactly," jeonghan hums.

seungcheol sighs again and looks away from his computer. "that doesn't make any sense," he says, reaching across the desk to push jeonghan's feet down.

it does, actually, at least to jeonghan, but explaining it seems like a lot of effort. "can i put a camera near the supply cabinet?"

seungcheol hangs his head in his hands. "jeonghan, no," he replies, muffled. "snoop around cubicles or watch the cabinet from the coffee machine like a normal person."

"ugh, fine."

🐱🐱🐱

the next day, jeonghan figures he'll start simple.

the notes appear at lunch, so he brings lunch from home. he turns out the lights in his office, closes the door like he always does, and crawls under his desk. it's not ideal, but he has enough light from his phone screen — brightness all the way down, of course — that he can sort of see where his food is. afterwards, he answers emails. he gets more work done than he did the whole morning, actually.

but he doesn't catch the person leaving the notes, because no one comes in. he wonders if he fell asleep and missed them, somehow, but when he turns his lights on, there's definitely nothing on his desk.

so he has to go to plan b, apparently.

🐱🐱🐱

day two of trying to ferret out the person leaving post-its and jeonghan feels moderately optimistic. he was thinking about it last night and the supply cabinet stalking isn't ideal for finding the guilty party. if they opened a new pack of post-its for the task that is leaving cat drawings and cute well wishes on his desk, they won't need another one for a while.

if they always use pink post-its, though…

> to: minions  
>  subject: your country needs you
> 
> by country, i mean me.  
>  does anyone use pink post-its?  
>  thinking about dropping them from the order.  
>  \- jh

he thinks it's a brilliant plan, honestly. people love to snitch on their coworkers, so even if the person leaving the notes doesn't speak up, there's a chance that someone in a neighboring cubicle might point a finger. his email pings almost immediately.

> from: kim mingyu  
>  subject: re: your country needs you
> 
> i've seen soonyoung with them before 😑  
>  \- kmg

_soonyoung_? it can't be soonyoung. jihoon has a massive crush on him. that would be _horrible_. still, it's the only reply he gets over the next hour, so he pulls soonyoung aside after a meeting and tries to let him down easy.

he stares at jeonghan for a second, then laughs. loudly. curls in on himself where he's standing and just won't stop. "you think— oh my god— _why_ would i be interested in you?"

"you're not leaving notes on my desk?"

"the last thing i left on your desk was a hard copy of an expense report."

"but you use pink post-its."

"i _did_ , until someone stole them, at which point i switched to the yellow ones i had on hand because i'm not ridiculously attached to the color of my sticky notes."

jeonghan scrutinizes his face. it's flushed from laughing, but he's telling the truth. "okay, sorry, forget this happened."

soonyoung shakes his head. "it's fine. wait, is _that_ why you sent that email?" he asks, so close to laughter again that jeonghan just rolls his eyes and leaves before he can be subjected to more embarrassment.

in his office, he finds a cup of milk tea with boba, next to another pink post-it with the same style of cat, this time drinking its own boba tea. the speech bubble says "something to brighten your day!"

it drives him crazy for the rest of the afternoon. cats don't even have thumbs.

🐱🐱🐱

it's day three and this is arguably taking up too much of jeonghan's mental bandwidth. it wouldn't be so hard to let the person come to him when they're ready, assuming it's even someone who wants to date him rather than someone leaving him nice but platonic appreciation. it's not like they're leaving anything disturbing, but now that he's been thwarted for two days in a row, it's a challenge.

he's considering his plan c when there's a knock on his office door. seungcheol strolls in before he can respond, carrying a stack of files.

"need you to deal with these," he says, tossing them on jeonghan's desk. "human resources wants them by the end of business tomorrow."

 _evaluations_. fuck. "i _hate_ these, cheollie," he whines.

"please. i'm buried in other reports."

jeonghan sighs. staying on seungcheol's good side is more important than winning here. "fine."

"thanks," seungcheol says, already halfway out the door.

so plan c becomes staring at the supply cabinet every time he refills his coffee for the rest of the day, in between completing so many forms he forgets what it's like to _not_ have a keyboard constantly clacking as background noise.

refill one, hansol drops by the supply cabinet for pens. he has wireless earbuds in and doesn't even look at jeonghan.

refill two, soonyoung turns the corner, sees him, and walks away laughing.

refill three, mingyu shoots him a nervous smile and grabs a box of envelopes, a dry erase marker, a roll of tape, and a single eraser. he didn't even know they _had_ erasers.

refill four, someone stops by that he doesn't recognize, but _how_ has he been unaware that someone so attractive exists in the same office? he stops mid-stride, clearly surprised to see another person back by the cabinet. he seems to remember what he was doing after a second, clears his throat, and reaches in for two single paperclips before scurrying away.

there was a cat on his shirt. weird.

after lunch, he finds another stupid post-it, because of course he does. same pink color, same cat, with a steaming mug in one paw. the speech bubble says "cheers!"

his stomach does a truly embarrassing flippy thing and he realizes he's smiling at the stupid paper. it has to mean something, right? there's no way it's a coincidence. four people saw him mainlining coffee this morning and he figures it has to be one of them leaving the notes.

soonyoung is out, and hansol regularly sends heart eyes to one of the accountants so jeonghan highly doubts it's him. that leaves mingyu and the paperclip guy. if it's mingyu, he'll have to quit. leave the country, maybe.

the thing is, he's starting to come around on the whole anti-cat position.

🐱🐱🐱

day four, he finishes the last few evaluations early in the morning, leaving the entire day open for figuring out who the stranger is and how to talk to him.

he starts with seungcheol — walks into his office like usual and sits, sighing dramatically.

"problem?"

"i think i caught post-it guy, but i don't know his name."

"it's a small office, jeonghan. presumably you remember what he looks like. go find him?"

"i can't just walk around aimlessly staring at people," he whines.

"why not?"

"because it's embarrassing."

seungcheol snorts. "you nearly streaked at the christmas party last year. jisoo had to physically stop you from taking your pants off."

"irrelevant."

"how is that—" he starts, brows furrowed in confusion. "nevermind. what can i do for you?" he asks, glancing back at his screen.

"tell me i'm hot."

"go find your secret admirer and have him tell you that."

"so you think it's true."

"definitely not what i said."

"that's what it sounded like to me."

seungcheol looks up and rolls his eyes when he spots jeonghan's smirk, then points at the door. "get out."

jeonghan does, but instead of going back to his office, he begins to wander between the cubicles. he doesn't come over here often. seungcheol is technically his boss, but they divide oversight of employees. he's not sure why it didn't occur to him before that post-it cat boy could be from one of seungcheol's departments.

people mostly ignore him. he doesn't see the guy, but he does get pulled into wonwoo's cubicle to see the newest photos of his three cats, which is when he notices the one next to his has a pad of pink post-its on the desk. more importantly, the cat that has been gracing the notes on his desk is staring at him from a whiteboard hanging behind the computer monitor.

"hey, who sits there?" jeonghan asks, nodding in the direction of the desk.

"new tech support guy."

"i assumed that much. i meant what's his name?"

"jun. why?"

"no reason," jeonghan lies. "where is he?"

wonwoo looks at him, clearly suspicious he has some nefarious reason for asking. he does his best to appear innocent.

"coffee."

"thank you," jeonghan says sweetly, dragging out the end of it.

he only starts to panic when he gets close to the small kitchen area on this side of the office — internally at least, because god, what if it _is_ mingyu, somehow — but it's abruptly shut down when he turns a corner and almost crashes into jun. panic flashes across _his_ face, which makes jeonghan feel oddly calm and confident in his investigation.

"hey. let's get dinner."

jun acts like he's giving it serious consideration, lips in a hard line, like he might actually say no, but eventually they turn up at the corners. "you know it's like eleven in the morning, right?"

jeonghan rolls his eyes. "is that a no?"

jun takes a sip of his coffee, then says, "no."

"so yes?"

"no," he answers, stepping around jeonghan and leaving without looking back.

he's all too familiar with feigned indifference, and jun was using it. that's fine. he goes back to his office with his head held high anyway. he knows who was leaving the notes and where his desk is. two can play his little game, he thinks.

until he walks into his office.

jun must be a ninja. maybe he can teleport. there's no other explanation for the new post-it. how did he have _time_?

this one has two cats, happily sharing a bowl of some sort of stew, and a number scrawled across the top. jeonghan tells himself he still doesn't love cats, but he catches himself smiling at this note, too, and thinks maybe he can make an exception.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to [triviaeuphoria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/triviaeuphoria/) for the whole lady and the tramp-esque idea for the end. the boba tea drawing is a thing that [really happened](https://twitter.com/AnnieMasaki/status/1092091521958998016). have some [other junhui cats](https://twitter.com/17shiba/status/879578078057349120) for a serotonin boost.
> 
> hhhhhhhh. blah blah same things i've said in the end notes for the entire series. i hope you're having a good day/week please can 2020 end haha. <3


End file.
